Recently, as the demand for high-quality of life has increased, consumers have pursued a concept for fibers and clothes showing high functionality, high emotion, comfortability, aesthetics, and customization; in addition to satisfying basic needs. Accordingly, the demand for functional fibers has increased, and the market of functional fibers has expanded. Due to this background, the development of fibers or fabrics having a self-deodorizing function, i.e., deodorizing fibers, have attracted attention, and fibers and products, which remove odors via various methods, including chemical, biotechnical and biological methods, have been developed.
In general, deodorizing yarns are produced either by adding an additive exhibiting a deodorizing function to thermoplastic resin or by coating yarns with the additive. Deodorizing materials conventionally used include phosphates of tetravalent metals, hydroxides of divalent metals, photocatalysts zirconium phosphate, and the like. Zeolite, talc, hydroxyapatite, silica gel, activated carbon, and the like have been known as inorganic materials that support these deodorizing materials.
However, the deodorizing function of these deodorizing materials is not long lasting, and photocatalysts have the problem of causing damage to yarns made therefrom.
Furthermore, although zirconium phosphate has an excellent deodorizing function, it has high hardness. Therefore, when zirconium phosphate is applied to yarns, a problem arises in that the zirconium phosphate causes the abrasion of either a spinning machine for producing yarns or process equipment in a post-processing process.
Meanwhile, polyester fibers are widely used for clothing and industrial purposes because of their excellent mechanical and chemical properties. However, polyester has the disadvantage of providing a hard tactile sensation due to its high Young's modulus. In addition, polyester has little or no polar functional groups in its molecules, and thus has a poor moisture-absorbing property. Therefore, when polyester is used for a clothing purpose, a problem arises in that polyester provides discomfort when being worn because it rarely absorbs sweat or moisture.